Authors Mary Anne Wise and Cheryl Conway-Daly detail the creation and the triumph of Multicolores, a rug-hooking cooperative in Guatemala. Rug Hooking serves as a template for how to start a non-profit business while working hand in hand with traditional artisans in developing nations. Through a compelling narrative, the authors describe how they built a business framework from within the local culture and created successful teaching strategies that encouraged both artistic advancement as well as personal growth - all the while establishing and maintaining their enterprise as a force in the global marketplace.

About the Author

Mary Anne Wise is a nationally recognised weaver, rug hooker, design teacher and curator. During multiple trips to Guatemala, she was moved by the relentless poverty and lack of opportunity for Maya women. In response, Mary Anne volunteered to teach a how-to rug-hooking workshop as a possible new income source for indigenous women. This single workshop eventually led to co-founding Multicolores, a non-profit rug-hooking cooperative in Guatemala. Cheryl Conway-Daly spent nearly twenty years as an academic researcher at universities in Northern Ireland and England, focusing on economic development and gender and equality. Her interest in working with grassroots organisations that focused on women's empowerment prompted her departure from academia, leading her to Guatemala in 2009. Cheryl joined the rug-hooking project in 2013. Her ongoing commitment to helping the rug-hooking artists improve the quality of their lives and her skilled and creative management of the project have been crucial to its success.

Reviews
"You might start to read this book out of a passion for textiles in general, or rugs in specific, but you'll finish it because it says so much about how to do some good in this world." --Keith Recker, founder Hand/Eye magazine; Creative Director, International Folk Art Market
"Rug Money is a template, a literal "how to" for social and economic change. And the leading indicator is the education and employment of women. Giving women agency, as Rug Money shows, means great promise for impoverished communities across the globe." --Amy Kaslow, award-winning journalist and photographer covering at-risk communities, worldwide
"Rug Money provides a stellar example of why entrepreneurial opportunities such as Multicolores can transform individual artisans, their families, and entire communities. Read their story and be inspired." --Jeff Snell, Ph.D, CEO, International Folk Art Market
"The book's strength lies in its stunning photos and the personal narratives of 10 women who find self-worth, camaraderie and joy in a sisterhood of artisans." --Christine Brunkhorst, book reviewer, Minneapolis Star Tribune



Book Information
ISBN 9780999051788
Author Mary Anne Wise
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Schiffer Craft
Publisher Schiffer Publishing Ltd
Weight(grams) 684g
Dimensions(mm) 280mm * 216mm * 14mm